Deal with the Devil
by ScouterFight
Summary: In one world the Princess manages to contain the Calamity until the Hero is ready to rise again. But not in this one. In this one, the Hero takes too long to awaken and the Princess surrenders to the manipulations of the Demon.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright _infringement_ is intended.

So unpleasant business out of the way, have fun reading.

A/N: Warning: Not too sure if this counts as Major Character Death? But this could be really dark for some readers, so be careful while you read.

* * *

_Numerous experts have speculated about the complex concept that is the Multiverse Theory._

_The so-called multiverse describes a hypothetical group of multiple universes. These different universes, all of them within one multiverse, are called parallel-universes, and they are supposed to exist at the same time, but completely separate from one another._

_This means that the progression of time and events in one universe could never affect the others, in any way or form. Which leads me to the conclusion that it is impossible to prove if this theory is, in fact, true because the other universes can't affect us, and so we could never find any proof that another parallel universe really does exists._

_But this never stopped me or my colleagues from trying to prove this highly fascinating concept._

_These theorized alternate realities are supposed to originate from one beginning, one singular event that split up into several separate moments, at the exact same time. But the time-flow and the events happening within the parallel realities are completely different from each other._

_So, it could be that one reality is approaching his end at the exact same moment when another is just beginning to age, because the time flows much quicker in the first one than in the second one, even though they existed for just as long as the other does._

Zelda closed her eyes as a tear trailed down her cheek, this book had always been one of her most treasured ones, even among the priceless research books on Sheikah-Technology. This one had given her the most hope, for the future.

Because even if she never managed to unlock her powers and the Calamity should rise, then there at least would be other universes where it could never hope to win. The good always finds a way to stop the evil.

When she had been busy running from one shrine to the next trying desperately to unlock her powers, the young princess could have never imagined that her life would eventually turn out this way.

Sealed away in her own home with the very embodiment of evil, trying to keep him contained so his influence could never reach beyond the confines of the castle.

The air around her was hot and humid from the malice that slithered through every crack of the building, which now served as a giant prison for herself and the Calamity.

But she still felt incredibly cold, her body shivered from exhaustion and the drain that it had endured during the last few decades and her eyes were red and puffy all the while hurting from the nearly constant crying she had been doing.

_**Still clinging onto hope, Princess?**_

Zelda shuddered as the cruel voice of the Calamity mocked her inside her own head.

"Shut up." Her voice was hoarse, both from disuse and from crying.

_**Can't you see how hopeless it is to resist me?**_

"I said shut up!"

_**You are only denying the inevitable!**_

Zelda pushed her hands over her ears in a vain attempt to block him out.

**_Cease your fruitless struggles!_**

Her body hunched forward into itself as she tried to make herself appear smaller in the raging presence of the calamity all around her.

_**It's truly pathetic that you still believe you could defy ME!**_

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

_**It would be so much easier to just give in. I can feel your exhaustion, princess.**_

She squeezed her eyes shut trying to not just block him but the entire situation around her out, but it's horrifying voice still echoed through her head.

**_Let your barrier fall and I may grant you some mercy. I have no need for a lifeless kingdom._**

Her body shook with tremors as her breathing picked up, she was starting to panic from the prolonged exposure to the calamity and her growing exhaustion.

Her powers were failing her quicker than she had previously thought, blocking his aura and the effects of the malice were becoming harder and harder with every passing day.

**_I may even let these worthless creatures of this realm live. I may even leave them alone._**

"Argh! Just shut up for once!" She screamed at him, her voice cracked with despair. And then finally for once blissful silence.

Zelda sighed when she felt the presence of the Calamity drawback, the sudden silence in her own head was comforting and she took a few deep breaths to calm herself after her sudden outburst and her near panic-attack.

Her hands shook where they laid in her lap. She was oh so tired, her body had no need for sleep since she had first imprisoned the Calamity, but in moments like these, she wished for the calming embrace of unconsciousness.

Just being in the presence of the Calamity without even directly touching it or it's malice she felt how the monster slowly drained her, both her powers and her life-force. She did not know how much longer she would be able to fight him.

She had been masking Link's presence from him ever since she had started this a hundred-year long stalemate, but she knew that her powers were starting to wane, even now she felt how the malice started to grow, to corrupt the world further. And yet the hero made no sign of awakening any time soon.

She stood up weakly out of her chair and stumbled towards the windows. She had barely left the strength to keep standing for more than a few seconds unaided and leaned heavily against the thick and dirty glass.

Her eyes trailed over the destroyed gardens that splayed out beneath her study-windows. She and the other Champions had spent a lot of time in those gardens, getting to know each other. It was one of the few orders that had come from her father at the time that did not consist of her standing in frozen water and praying to the goddess until she would drop from exhaustion.

He had reasoned that because the Champions would have to fight together to beat the Calamity then they at least should know each other beforehand and so he had ordered them to spent time with each other, to spare with each other and for the Champions should they have time to also accompany her to the springs.

Her eyes settled on the bank, now destroyed by time and malice, on which she had often sat when the Champions had sparred with each other, a safe distance away but close enough to be a part of the group.

When she closed her eyes, she could still hear their laughter and voices echoing inside of her, a welcome distraction from reality.

Urbosa's confident laughter. Her never-ending trust in her even when Zelda had lost faith in herself when she had returned from yet another shrine without success.

Daruk's booming roar. His comradery and openness with all of them right from the start.

Revali's arrogant chuckle. His mask of superiority that they sometimes managed to glimpse behind when it was just between them, when he would finally open up to them, when they sat around campfires or in that garden, relaxing after another intense sparring session.

Mipha's kind giggles. Her endless patience and calmness that had made the Healer who she had been, while those traits had also allowed her to become a strong wall of defense for her people and the entire Zora Domain.

And because Link had rarely shown any emotions and never really laughed and or talked, she could not hear him in her head now, but she could see him in her mind's eye. A rare but soft smile. A quiet but confident and comforting presence always right behind her.

She sobbed with emotion as various memories with the five Champions flashed through her eyes. They had been her friends, the first she had ever had, and now they were gone.

The six of them had prepared themselves alone for years, worked together for months, honing their bodies together, mastered their control over the Divine beasts together, laughed together, fought together, cried together, all just so they could lose it all in just a day, a single short, but what had felt at the time such a long, long day.

No, Zelda scowled, it had not even been a complete day, between the moment the Calamity had first appeared and the time when she had given Impa Link's near-dead body, not even sixteen hours had passed and by that time the four Pilot's of the Divine Beasts had already perished and the Hero with the sword had been so close to death, that he had been more dead than alive.

**_You miss them._**

Zelda tried to ignore the voice as it began to taunt her again. It had been quiet since she had screamed at him just a few minutes ago, probably startled from her first outburst in over three decades but now it's voice and presence were once again back.

**_Let me propose a deal, bearer of the Triforce._**

"A deal? Why should I agree to any deal you propose, you'll have basically won already, why are you taunting me like this?" Zelda winced at the cracks in her voice, she tried to appear strong but she knew that the Calamity could hear her growing exhaustion.

_**Because you have proven your strength to me with this resistance, annoyed me immensely but you are indeed strong.**_

_**I see no reason to continue this worthless stalemate any further, give in now and I may spare you.**_

She stumbled back towards her chair and sank down on it. This conversation with the demon was making her exhaustion worse. She feared that if she continued to stand much longer then she would simply collapse from exhaustion.

**_So, I ask you one last time, are you ready to discuss the terms of surrender, princess? This is your last chance! I won't ask again!_**

And, she thought to herself, wasn't he right, wasn't this entire fight completely pointless on her part?

The various Princesses from the legends had never been able to stop the monster without their Hero. And her Hero was asleep, lost, in a temple on the Great Plateau, so she was all alone, with just the monster for company.

Wouldn't it be better to give the fight up now, so she may be able to make some kind, any kind of deal with the demon, so she could at least save some of her people?

If the princess had been in the right state of mind, she never would have given in, but the last decades had robbed her of most, if not all of her physical as well as her mental strength, she could feel it in her soul how tired she was. Zelda simply did not have it in her anymore to resist any further.

The woman frozen in time was oh so tired and she knew by this point that she wouldn't be able to resist much longer. But maybe she could soften the blow the Calamity would inflict on her people just a little bit.

"What…" She hesitated, was this truly the right way?

**_Yes?_**

"What would happen to Hyrule, and it's people?" The princess steeled her resolve and began anew, she knew that there was no other way, she hated it but she could feel herself slowly dying.

**_What worth does a king have, if he has no one to rule over?_**

Zelda trembled slightly; the voice sounded much calmer now. The Calamity had won, they both knew it so there was really no reason for it to appear as threatening as before.

She shivered but this time not because of her exhaustion or the strange coldness in her dying body, no she shivered for the first time in over 100 years because she was afraid about what would happen next, now that the Princess and the Hero had truly failed for the first time in history.

The Demon had won, it was over. More tears trailed down her cheeks.

"Forgive me, all of you. But I can't… I can't do this anymore. I'm so, so tired, please forgive me. I truly hope you can forgive me for what I'm about to do." She whispered mostly to herself, but the plea was directed at the Champions, at her father, at her subjects and most of all at Link, who was still asleep in the Shrine of Resurrection.

"And what would you want from me?"

**_A King needs his Queen._**

Zelda swallowed hard. In all that time fighting him and speculating about the possible outcomes this had never one that had crossed her mind.

"A… a Queen?"

**_Hahaha!_**

Zelda tried to keep the tears at bay, now it was time to do what would be best for her people. Time to mourn her fate would come later, she had to keep it together.

"Very well."

**_I could even give you, your Champions back._**

Despite herself, and because of her exhausted and grief addled mind the princess could not contain a tiny hopeful gasp. The Champions… but?

"This has to be a trick." She accused him with newfound strength.

**_They will be allowed to live again, but they will be reborn through my will, they will serve me as my Champions._**

"And be your toys, no I will not condone them to this fate!"

_**Princess, you already condoned them to a fate much worse.**_

"W-what? What do you mean?!"

_**The souls of your… Champions are bound to the beasts, and because my Blights corrupted the Divine Beasts, their souls are bound to them!**_

"No!" She cried out in despair.

_**Oh yes, princess, it is your choice, I could either keep them that way forever, as souls of the dead bound to this plane of existence, bound to their tormentors for all eternity. Their suffering would never end.**_

"No, no, no, please! Anything but that!" Zelda didn't care that she was begging now, this was a fate that she wanted to spare her friends from.

**_Or, I could resurrect them as beings of my creation. As my servants, alive, with a body, not bound to a single place, but first and foremost with a free will._**

"Free will?" Zelda tried not to believe it, for it would be too good to be true.

_**I have no use for mindless slaves. They would be changed of course, but at their core, they would still be the same…**_

Zelda began to weep again, she knew she should try to keep fighting, to resist, but if she was honest with herself, she simply could not hold out any longer, it was over. They had given everything up to fight the Demon, but in the end, everything had simply not been enough. She had just prolonged the inevitable for a century, but now it was over.

She was exhausted and there was no escape from this completely hopeless situation. The Calamity had been right when it said that she had been clinging to false hope.

There would be no one who would save her, not this time, there were simply no Heroes left to do so.

The Champions were prisoners of their own Beasts, most of the world had forgotten about her, and Link, well he was still being healed in the Shrine of Resurrection.

She feared that he would never wake up, again. But maybe it would be better this way, so he would never see that she had given up the fight, she did not want for him to see what would become of the world, of her.

She stood up from her chair but her legs buckled underneath her and she fell down to her knees, with her head bowed. She did not look up, there was no use anyway, the Calamity was all around her.

"And if I choose to keep fighting now until eventually my powers will be drained completely… you'll just keep their spirits tortured for all eternity while crushing this world into nothingness, without mercy?!"

**_Am I not being merciful now? I'm giving you a choice! One I never got!_**

"Why?"

**_Because you have proven your strength with your 100-year-long fight and the Champions have proven their worth when they fought till their last breath. All of you ready to fight to the death for something you'll believe in. I can almost… admire that._**

Zelda just stared blankly at the floor underneath her, her face hidden behind her knotted and disheveled hair. For the first time in decades, her mind truly awoke again, trying so desperately to find a way out of this nightmare. But she found nothing, no answer, no solution, not even a whisper from the goddess she had dedicated her entire life to.

_**What did your goddess ever do for you, princess? Did she thank you? Explain why your powers only manifested when it was already too late? Is it worth dying for someone like that?**_

She glanced up at the ceiling above her to where the malice writhed, like an infestation. Her eyes closed for a few seconds, once again asking for forgiveness for what she was about to do, before they opened again, glistening with new unshed tears that spoke of her desperation and fear.

"What must I do to appease you, milord?" She asked submissively.

**_Go to the Ceremonial Chamber, and throw yourself into the pool of malice, that is your part of the deal, afterwards, I will fulfill my part. Do not worry princess. I will keep my word._**

Zelda mustered up the last bits of her strength to scramble to her feet as she felt the Calamity retreat out of her head. The room got significantly colder as she felt the essence of the Demon disappear into the direction of the Ceremonial Chamber.

She followed slowly through the destroyed and monster-infested halls. Strangely they did not attack her even though her powers were nearly gone, just barely enough to keep the Calamity contained until she had fulfilled her part of the deal.

And yet they did not even seem to sense her, even when she stumbled into them, they just went along their way without even glancing in her direction. She realized with a start that the Calamity was shielding her in some way.

It felt like hours till she finally stood in front of the battered but still intact doors to the Ceremonial Chamber. This was the entrance her father had always used, the one that led him directly onto the elevated part of the room.

She pushed the heavy doors open and nearly collapsed from the strain alone but the sight behind the door robbed her, of her last strength and she tumbled towards the ground. The contact with the marble knocked her breath out of her, leaving her winded.

She considered just staying there, laying on the floor and simply waiting for her death. But she feared that if she would not keep her part of the deal, then the Calamity would decide to call it off, and she could not sentence the people of Hyrule to death and her friends to eternal torment just because she was too tired to stand up again.

So, she heaved herself up again with great effort and stumbled towards the banister. She realized with a start that she was dying and that she was approaching death's door far quicker than she had thought.

The room was horrifying to look at, malice covered nearly every surface of the walls and the ceiling. The large central part of the room, where she and the Champions once stood was completely filled with the malice, it was so much that it nearly reached the banister, which separated the upper part of the room, the royal part, from the lower level of the room.

This was the pool, the Calamity had mentioned. She swallowed back the bile that had gathered in her throat at the sight of it. All the while the malice bubbled threateningly beneath her as if it was waiting for her to jump into it.

The presence of the Calamity was all around her, waiting. She took a deep breath and glanced through one of the windows. Right now, there was nothing she wished more for than just to see the blue sky and the sun one final time. But it was no use, the Calamity blocked the entire sky above the castle out, and the only thing one could see when they glance up was its red creepy glow.

The Calamity was growing restless around her, and she felt her strength waning even further, Zelda knew that her time was running out rapidly. So, she heaved herself up onto the banister, with her last reserves, so she sat on it, her arms supported her and let her naked feet dangle just a few centimeters above the giant pool of malice.

She swallowed harshly one more time, as she glanced up towards the cracked and malice filled ceiling above.

"Milord?"

_**Yes?**_

"Please, have mercy on my people, or at least grant them a quick death. They have nothing to do with our old struggles."

There was no answer, but Zelda had not really expected one either.

She looked down, the pool beneath her emitted a strange heat, and she hoped that she would at least lose consciousness quick. She knew that the malice hurt a lot upon contact and that the feeling of it stealing its victim's life-force was even worse.

She shifted her body forward, so she was nearly suspended above the malice just by her grip on the rail. She closed her eyes and relaxed her fingers, and then she was falling.

"Forgive me," she whispered just before she touched the malice.

And even before her entire body touched it, she already knew no more, as oblivion finally greeted her.

**_Welcome home, my princess._**

* * *

…

Well, I just wanted to write a quick short and dark story, that was inspired by "Poor Unfortunate Souls" written by "The USS Ficcelsior", but this became a heavy one-shot with a whooping word-count of 3650 words. And it does not even contain everything I wanted to write about.

I haven't included the rebirth of the Champions, the effect this choice has on Hyrule, the return (and maybe even the fall) of the Hero and so much more.

Well, that just means that I'm probably going to add to this one in the future, not sure, yet when this is going to happen because I originally wanted to repost my "Legend of Korra: Raiders of Jiyū" series this summer, but that is probably not going to happen.

Because I got heavily distracted by World of Warcraft again and after I finally bought "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and fell in love with this game, I somehow can't get anything done.

Well, this is it, for now, I'm also going to be checking for mistakes and other errors in a few days that I overlooked. So please forgive me should you find some. So, thank you for reading and I hope that you liked it, maybe even post a constructive review.

Thank you very much, this is ScouterFight and I'm out :D.

Update: The story is also now posted on ao3 under the same name I use here, so if you want to check it out with the edits I could use on that site, feel free to head over.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright _infringement_ is intended.

A/N:This is mostly just a smaller chapter when compared to the first one, it could be longer but it already feels forced to me and the next part won't fit into the tune of this chapter so I'm posting them separate from each other.

So unpleasant business out of the way, have fun reading.

This time there are no real warnings.

* * *

Princess Zelda strutted out of the castle, her gait confident and strong. She wasn't stumbling anymore or struggling to breathe after moving for longer than just a few seconds. For the first time in nearly a century, she felt like herself again, but this was so much more than that, she felt powerful, confident, ready to take on the world and win.

This time there were no reprimanding looks from her father, no gossiping from the court, no whispering from the people, Zelda felt as if she was on top of the world. And to think that this was because she had finally given in to the demands of the Calamity, she wondered now why she had never agreed to his demands sooner.

Zelda smirked as she passed harmlessly through the sea of monsters and guardians, while the Calamity had shielded her from their senses before, they certainly could sense her now.

But to the monsters, she was now the threat and they were her prey, scuttling away from her as soon as they sensed her. She laughed cruelly as a group of Lizalfos scrambled over themselves to get as far away from her as they could.

The many guardians, littering around the place, on the other hand simply ignored her and this was fine, they were good attack dogs when she would need them to be. And she preferred their silence, no needless posturing, no pointless questions, no endless chattering, they were silent and they did what they had been programmed to do, namely protecting their princess.

She stopped briefly beside a puddle of water and looked at herself for the first time in nearly a century. She had changed, no- the malice had changed her quite a bit.

Crawling out of the pool had been a strange experience, her mind and body had felt different. For the first few moments, after she had dragged herself out of the bubbling mass of evil, her mind and body had felt as if they were not her own.

But after her head had cleared and her body had time to settle, she couldn't ever remember being this powerful before. Her mind was clearer than it had ever been before, no more doubt and questions plaguing her. It felt as if the malice had sucked all her weaknesses out of her and then replaced them with strength, confidence, and determination, she felt invincible.

Her skin had turned incredibly pale, but she reasoned that this had more to do with being locked indoors for a hundred years, without any contact with the sun at all. The various long red runes that crisscrossed over her pale skin from her jaw to her neck, to her shoulders and even down to her elbows, originated from the power of the Calamity.

Her formerly blond hair had whitened out and seemed to glow in the moonlight. The way she kept her hair wasn't that different from before, it still twisted behind her ears, left her forehead free, but the original braids that had kept her hair orderly had disappeared, instead, her hair flowed just messily down her back.

Zelda's formerly bright green eyes had reddened and darkened. She looked closer and could see that her pupils had changed as well, they weren't rounded anymore, they now resembled cat-eyes. The slit in her pupils together with her messy long hair gave her a feral appearance.

Her ferocious look was further completed by her new clothes. A black choker, with slim gold linings, was secured snugly around her neck. On her upper body, she wore a small black bikini-top that stopped just underneath her breast line, so her stomach was still visible.

A large red ruby in a gold frame was attached to the top, secured to the ruby was a long black hoodless cape, which split up into two parts around her neck, before coming back together at the gemstone. A long black sarong protected her lower body.

Both the sarong and the top gave her the freedom to move around freely without restricting her movement in any way, and they also helped with her now overheated body, apparently another side effect from throwing oneself into a pool of malice and surviving.

Her feet were clad into ankle-high black heeled boots. The heels were relatively short, giving her a bit of extra height, but not restricting her freedom of movement.

Zelda smirked, she liked the new look. It gave her a dangerous appearance, but she had no time to waste with admiring herself further. It was high time to free the Calamity from its prison once and for all.

When she finally reached the gate that connected the Castle and Castle Town with one another she slowly turned back around to scowl up at the large building. Oh, how she resented it, for the memories she had in this place but also for the things it had once stood.

Throwing her hair back, she started to walk again. Zelda would have to reach the limit of castle-town to take the barrier fully down.

While her jump into the malice had weakened the barrier severely, it had not completely disappeared and her new lord had ordered her to take it down fully. So, his reign could truly begin.

Walking through the destroyed and abandoned town felt strange, the last time she had been here had been during a market day, the entire plaza had been filled with people from all races. Laughter, talking, and bargaining had rung through the air, the plaza had been alive, it had been loud, very loud.

But now, everything was just silent. No shouting merchants, no laughing children, no chattering buyers enjoyed the good weather, not even the chirping of birds could be heard. The formerly glorious market place was a ghost of its former self, abandoned and forgotten. Just like her, Zelda smirked at the dark thought.

"Strange," Zelda muttered to herself when she realized something odd about the place.

There wasn't a single sign of nature trying to take back what had been stolen from it. There was no rough vegetation, no small critters running around, the entire market place felt devoid of any kind of life.

The Calamity seemed to have sucked all natural-life out of the surrounding area, during its one hundred yearlong stay. The fallen princess wondered morbidly, as she walked, how the caverns underneath the castle, would look like. The Calamity had been imprisoned there for more than 10000 years after all.

The foreboding young woman stopped shortly before she reached the last gate of Castle-Town, it was nearly completely destroyed, its wooden doors were gone and the stone archway was crumbled with a few of the stones missing.

As she approached the boundary, she felt its power, the static in the air was so strong that the hairs on her neck shot up straight while she was still several meters away from it.

The soft golden glow of the barrier appeared as she closed the distance between herself and the last hurdle that kept the Calamity contained, with her fallen it was truly the last piece of resistance against the Demon. The races of Hyrule were defenseless, and they did not even know it yet, she almost laughed again.

The Guardians were still turned against them, while the Divine Beasts were for now lying dormant without their pilots to control them, the Champions would soon return, but on the other side of this conflict, their Hero still slumbering and their Princess corrupted. All of Hyrule's defenses were gone or had turned against them.

The world truly did not know what was going to hit it, she, on the other hand, was looking forward to the future destruction, it would at least be fun to see these weak beings try to escape the coming doom just so that they could live the rest of their miserable lives under the control of their new master.

The Demon had been truthful when it had said that he had no interest in killing all of Hyrule because there would be no one left to torment. And Zelda knew that a lot of people would be killed in the coming storm.

The last time the Calamity had been free the world had seemingly turned on its head, nature going crazy and the world becoming a darker place just because the Demon had been freed from its shackles.

She raised her right hand and felt how the barrier broke with an ear-shattering bang, in that same moment the Calamity let out an even louder roar, and Zelda sank to her knees with her hands pressed against her ears and her eyes squeezed shut to block the sound out.

The earth shook beneath her, the winds began to pick up, the rain and thunder followed quickly after and she could hear even the eruption of Death-Mountain in the east over the noise directly around her.

Zelda still did not move, she stayed there on her knees, her head bowed, with her eyes tightly pressed shut and her hands over her ears, desperately praying for it to stop before she would get hit by something flying through the air.

Finally, a last gigantic boom echoed from the castle, it's shockwave reaching beyond the corners of Hyrule, the blast had enough force to throw her backwards several meters, Zelda tried to brace herself for a rough landing, but when she connected with the ground the wind still got knocked out of her lungs, leaving her winded.

She feared that something would hit her should she attempt to move in her disorientated state, so she chose to stay on the ground till the chaos around her calmed.

After what felt like an eternity it seemed to be finally over, the winds had died down, the storm had passed and the earthquakes and the rumbling of the Death Mountain had lessened significantly.

Zelda opened her eyes and gasped sharply, the Castle and Castle-Town had been completely torn down and then replaced by a gigantic fortress made from some kind of black stone, a material so dark it seemed to absorb the light from the very air around it.

The former castle would have been dwarfed by this enormous citadel. The Calamity had disappeared, at least from view as Zelda could still feel its malicious presence all around her.

**_Very good._**

"What about your part of the deal?" She asked as she rose unsteadily to her feet.

_**Ah yes, the Champions, worry not. They are being reborn.**_

_**They will join us when they are ready.**_

"When will that be?"

_**Not too long, a few days at most.**_

_**Now come, there is much we have to discuss.**_

"Yes, milord."

With something that resembled a satisfied hum, she felt the Calamity draw back a little. While it's presence and aura were not as crushing as they had been before her transformation, they were still a lot to withstand, especially when it spoke directly to her.

As she walked towards the towering fortress, she wondered what they had to discuss, the Calamity had been oddly silent since she had crawled out of the malice.

It had probably spoken the least amount of words to her in decades, the only thing it said had been the order to take the barrier down, after that the Demon had stayed oddly silent until her deed had been done.

It had been strange. Zelda had gotten so used to its voice echoing through her, that she nearly missed its constant presence even if its company was exhausting to bear at times.

* * *

…

Well, this is it, second chapter done. Like I already said I could have made it longer but I had trouble writing this one because I'm horrible when it comes to describing anything…

And this chapter is nearly 80% descriptions… Not funny but I got it done.

Next chapter is going to be the Resurrection of the Champions and a little foreshadowing for the future.

I'm not sure yet how long I'm going to make this story, but a third chapter will definitively be posted soon. I'm going to see if I'll add more afterwards but for now, I have this one planned as just a three-chapter story.

Should you find any errors, I'm asking you to point them out to me so I can correct them in the future. I'm maybe even going to repost this chapter in a few days as I'm not entirely satisfied with it yet.

But because I have been beating my head against my desk for the last hour trying to find what was wrong with this one, and I know that if I'm not posting it now, I'm going to delete it tomorrow and start over, so here it is… the second chapter.

So, thank you for reading and I hope that you liked it, maybe even post a constructive review.

Thank you very much, this is ScouterFight and I'm out :D.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright _infringement_ is intended.

A/N: Third, last and definitively longest chapter.

So unpleasant business out of the way, have fun reading.

Warnings: No real warnings for this chapter either, except that the POV is going jump a lot between the characters during this chapter.

* * *

_Three weeks later…_

"Life… life can be incredibly cruel," Zelda mused to herself as she walked through the dark hallways of Ganon's fortress towards his throne room.

The only sources that provided any kind of light for her were the various glowing crystals that were placed through the corridors. They provided just enough light so that she did not stumble into anything on her way through the Citadel.

The only sound that echoed through the near-silent corridors, beside her nearly soundless footsteps, was a near-silent hiss that originated from the Malice that was merged with the sturdy stone around her.

This dark mixture made up most of the fortress.

Said mixture allowed Ganon to control and shape the layout of the entire building to his will, at any given time. Turning the building into one giant defense system. There was, apparently, no need for any prior placed traps or guardians, as the Demon could simply summon or build them the moment they were needed.

But Zelda doubted that anyone would even dare to attack them, the Fortress posed a truly intimidating sight. And even if someone would try to, they would have to reach the Fortress first anyway, as the entire area around the newly risen building was littered with monsters and guardians. Zelda truly pitied the first fool who would try their luck.

"One moment filled with happiness, the next filled with utter despair." She shook her head as she turned around the corner and nearly ran into a group of cloaked cultists, they bowed quickly before her and mumbled a few apologies underneath their breaths before they hurried on.

Zelda's startling red eyes narrowed as she watched them rush away. She did not know where they came from but they had appeared just a few days after she had set the Calamity free.

The fallen princess did not trust them. She had a bad feeling about them, their aura felt even stranger and darker than Ganon's did. As if they were protected by something that was even fouler than the Demon that was now her master.

When she had asked him about them, he had just told her that he knew what she meant, but that he had the situation under control.

Shaking her head briefly she pushed the strange cloaked men out of her mind, she had no time to waste on them anyway, they were meaningless. Should they become a problem then her Lord would dispose of them. It was not hers to deal with.

As she resumed her track to the throne room, her mind went back to her previous thought process. She grumbled as unpleasant memories assaulted her mind, sometimes she wished that the Malice had wiped her memories. She did not care to remember the pathetic existence that her former self had lived, such thoughts were just distracting.

Princess Zelda's life had always been difficult, she had had responsibilities trusted upon her shoulders from a young age because of her status as a princess, and the prophecy had only worsened the situation. After her mother's death, it had all come to a head.

The king had never gotten over the death of her dear mother, it had destroyed their small family. Over the course of her century-long imprisonment, she had sometimes wondered what would have happened had her mother never gotten sick, would it have changed anything?

In the aftermath of her mother's passing her father had ultimately stopped being her father, from then on, he had just been her King. She had lost both of her parents when her mother had succumbed to her sickness.

But she could never say that her life had been bad, just difficult and not in the same way a farmer's life could become difficult because of a poor yea, so difficult that he could not pay his tribute to the crown or even feed his family.

Her troubles in life weren't comparable to how troublesome the life of a soldier could prove to be, a soldier who went off to fight and die in the wars, that the people who never even bothered to lift a finger in their spoiled lives, were responsible for.

And no, her life wasn't even similar to the one of a trader, whose life was difficult because of the dangers of the open road. Monsters, bandits, and raiders lurking in the shadows to rob those who could not defend themselves.

No, her life had never been so difficult that she had to fear how she would feed herself in the upcoming winter, or have to fight wars, or that she had to be clever enough, to evade the dangers of the road. But her responsibilities and the actions of her father had robbed her of her childhood nonetheless.

Sometimes the former Zelda had wished that she would have been born into a simpler family. Even now she cursed her ancestors. They had placed heavy burdens on their bloodlines.

Not even her name had ever been her own, it had been a sacred tradition for countless generations, that the princess of Hyrule would be named Zelda. After the same princess that had been blessed directly by the goddess Hylia, the same princess who had saved Hyrule from the Calamity more than 10.000 years ago, the same princesses who had beaten Ganon time and time again.

And she had been the first one to fail, she had not been strong enough to stop the Calamity from returning, she had failed, she had fallen.

And so, the fallen princess had decided that should she ever birth a child, her daughter would not be named Zelda. That tradition, just like the one of fighting against the evil of the world, would die with her.

The royal family had lost, it was over. And Zelda had decided that it would stay that way. She had, not even on Ganon's order, began to destroy any traces and or legends that told of the blessed princesses and the brave heroes.

There would be no more by prophecies cursed children, to fight in a war. That should have never been theirs to fight. Zelda was evil, and not cruel, even she knew that it was stupid to send two children to stop the incarnation of evil time and time again and simply hope for the best.

The fallen princess hated the goddesses for what they had done to her and her ancestors and to the heroes that had come before Link, and Link himself.

She knew that the burden on hers and Link's shoulders had destroyed them in ways that never should have been allowed to happen.

Mipha had told her all those years ago how the Master Sword had changed her best friend, from the goofy and yet brave and selfless young teen into a silent, emotionless, and overly focused machine.

Zelda startled when she noticed that she had arrived in front of the doors that led to the throne room, the chamber where the Calamity resided. It seemed that she had been too lost in thought to notice how much she had already walked.

She drew her shoulders back, straightened her back, lifted her head and pushed the doors open, it would do her no good to delay this audience any longer.

Ganon's massive projection covered most of the chamber, one that was big enough to house Vah Rudania. The Calamity had taken on the form of a giant boar, the form of the infamous Ganon. She had read about his countless cruelties, and when she looked into its murderous eyes, she believed every story she had read about him.

But she wasn't afraid of him, not really. Zelda had spent a hundred years with him in her head, even though it had probably not been his intention, the Demon had shared quite a lot with her over the curse of their mutual imprisonment.

She walked until she reached the center of the room, there she stood directly in front of his large snout, the Malice that dripped from it was directly absorbed by the stone beneath it.

Warm air washed over her as the Demon breathed softly, but it wasn't uncomfortable, it neither stank nor was it in any way like the normal breath of a boar. It was just very warm.

She knelt in front of him, waiting for Ganon to make the first move.

**_The Champions are nearly ready to awaken once again._**

**_Just one last thing is left to do before they can truly be resurrected._**

"And that is?" She asked.

**_A spark from your powers._**

"E-excuse me? What?!"

**_My Malice could rebirth your friends, but they would just be empty husks._**

**_They need life, a life that my Malice can't give them but the power of the Tri-Force can._**

"Oh… ok. What do I need to do?"

**_Focus a tiny part of the power of the Tri-Force into your right hand._**

**_just until it begins to glow softly._**

"Like this?" She asked when a small glow began to engulf her hand.

**_Yes, now concentrate on keeping it like this for a few minutes._**

**_the glow should become stronger, but do not push too much of your power into them._**

"Urgh…" Zelda grunted.

Pearls of sweat had started to form on her brows as she knelt there with her hand stretched out before her, she watched as the soft glow began to grow brighter.

**_Yes, this is exhausting but you need to keep it like this._**

"I-." It was getting harder and harder to concentrate.

**_Just a little bit longer princess._**

Zelda breathed a sigh of relief when the Calamity finally nodded at her, she stopped channeling more of her powers into her hand, while the glow receded a bit most of it stayed focused around her hand.

While she had trained a lot with her power over the last few weeks, focusing it like this was a lot harder than forcing it to take the form of a weapon or to let it simply run its course.

**_Okay, now try to split the power into four parts, try to imagine the power travel through your fingers till they reach the tips._**

**_But be careful that you do not split it too much or not enough._**

**_We need exactly four fragments._**

Zelda concentrated once more and watched with wide eyes when the power of the Tri-Force that had manifested in her hand split into four small fragments.

The fragments hovered like small ghosts over the tips of her fingers. Gently twirling around and bobbing up and down. She had never even thought about it like that but her power felt almost alive.

**_Good, very good. Now one last thing._**

**_Focus on the Champions and send the pieces of your power to them._**

Zelda focused one last time and felt a fresh coat of sweat erupt on her brow, but she soldiered on, she was so close.

She quickly closed her eyes, once again, to shield them from the glare when the fragments began to glow brighter. Finally, the fragments dimmed again and Zelda was just quick enough to open her eyes, to watch as the four fragments flew through the sky towards the four corners of Hyrule.

"What now?" She questioned as she rubbed the sweat away from her brows.

**_Now we wait._**

"For what?"

**_Your powers should awaken the Champions, I'm giving them a few hours to get used to their new existence. Then I will call them._**

"Very well."

**_But there is one thing you still have to do before the Champions arrive._**

"And that is?" She asked the large entity, wondering what task he had in store for her.

After this, she just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a week, who knew that a task so seemingly small would be so exhausting.

**_Their weapons were either recovered by their people after the fight or destroyed during, but they were weak anyway. I have forged your Champions new versions of their chosen weapons. Fetch them._**

"And where do I find them?" She asked as she lifted her eyes.

**_Go to the Catacombs underneath the fortress, my Malice will guide you._**

"It will be done, milord," Zelda vowed.

_**Good, now leave me be.**_

Zelda rose from her kneeled position to her feet, paused once to bow briefly before the projection and then left the room. Her mind, as she walked, was already on the upcoming days, she wondered how much the Malice had changed the Champions.

Meanwhile far away from the terrifying citadel, something began to stir deep inside the Sanctums of the Divine Beasts, someone near the Titans, with a high affinity to the mystical powers of this world, would have felt the horror stirring from their long slumber. But no one noticed the monsters forming inside the titanic beasts.

* * *

The Sanctum of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta was filled with Malice, the console, the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor were nearly completely covered in the corrupted essence. A large black cocoon hung in the center of the shrine, black slime dripped from the gooey cocoon in a steady rhythm, the water on the floor was darkened with Malice, and the air in the Sanctum was hot and humid.

This cocoon itself was just a few days old, the Waterblight, the scourge of Vah Ruta, the phantom construct that had killed princess Mipha one hundred years ago had created this cocoon and had sealed itself inside of it.

Large cracks began to appear slowly on the surface of the cocoon. The deep pulsing light that emitted from the disgusting sack was growing stronger with every second that passed, just one last push was missing for the monster inside of it to be reborn.

This last push was one of the fragments Zelda had sent out into the world to breathe life back into the fallen Champions. The glowing golden fragment flew quickly through the door of the sanctum, it stopped abruptly and simply hovered a few meters in front of the cocoon, between the sack and the console. It stayed there, bobbing up and down as if it was waiting for some kind of command to proceed.

Suddenly, and so quickly that if one had blinked during that exact moment, they would have missed how the fragment broke the shell of the cocoon and disappeared inside of it. For the first few moments afterward nothing happened, but then the glow began to get even brighter.

Cracks appeared on the cocoon and whatever was in there dropped out of it as the lower part of the thing finally broke away.

Mipha caught herself midfall and managed to land harshly on her knees, she took deep breaths.

"Thank you, master," She breathed out softly.

The black scaled Zora laughed, the sound echoing through the Divine Beast, she lifted her head and opened her eyes, for the first time in decades she could breathe again, it was… freeing.

She stood up and stretched her now black fins over her head, feeling something pop back into place. Mipha smirked confidently as she stepped gracefully over the remnants of the cocoon. Her eyes landed on Ruta's console, there would be time to inspect her new body later, for now, she had a job to do.

Ruta demanded blood, her blood.

Looking around briefly and spotting nothing that she could have used, she just bit into the softer scales on her hand with her sharp teeth and watched as dark blood erupted from the self-inflicted wound. Pressing her bleeding hand onto the console she shuddered as she felt how Ruta woke up, oh how she had missed her partner.

"Ruta!" She called out to the Beast… her Beast, smirking when Ruta shrieked as it too awoke from its long, long slumber.

Laughter bubbled out of her as the same sensations that had crashed through her body 100 years ago, when she had first touched Ruta's console, now returned.

It seemed as if Ruta had missed her as well. The titanic beast stomped with his feet, the water of the lake quickly growing dangerously agitated.

Mipha could feel the same Malice that slithered through her veins, slither slowly through her Beast. She closed her eyes and saw before her mind's eyes how the Malice restored old and broken mechanism, repaired the damage caused during the fight between her old self and the Waterblight, watched how it did various other small tasks that had to be dealt with.

Her eyes flew back open when she felt the Malice strengthen the bond between Champion and Beast.

Mipha had always been proud of the connection she had shared with Ruta. Out of the four Champions, she had always worked best with her partner. To feel it grow even stronger than it had ever been before brought a large smile onto her now crueler features.

"Come now Ruta, there is much to be done. And I fear that we do not have a lot of time until our new master calls for us."

* * *

A gigantic and ominous cocoon, made up from hardened Malice, took up most of the space inside the Vah Rudania sanctum. Several large Malice crystals jutted from the cocoon. The entire thing was more like a giant rock than a giant cocoon because its entire surface was as hard as stone.

The Crystals were pulsing with an even more ominous glow. Several meters tall and wide the pulsing object posed a truly impressive and frightening sight.

Several cracks had already appeared on the surface of the cocoon and its crystals. And all it would take would be a small push to bring the structure to its breaking point.

All around the truly giant object, the Malice slowly pulsed with the same foreboding light, steadily glowing brighter and brighter.

An onlooker would have realized that the breaking point was fast approaching and would have run for the hills. But the sanctum of Vah Rudania had been mostly empty for the last 100 years, except for the Fireblight that had killed the Goron Champion.

But Ganon's Fireblight was now gone as well, and all that was left was the cocoon in the center of the sanctum. At first, the object had been mostly dormant but the glow and the pulsing aura were growing steadily more threatening as time went on.

A small glowing orb was already hovering just a few meters away from the cocoon, it stayed there floating for a while, before it hastily crashed through the stone-like structure, easily puncturing its shell as if it was made from wet paper.

The cracks along the surface grew larger and larger, while numerous new ones appeared all over the cocoon, the light and the pulsing grew stronger. Just when it seemed to have reached its climax, everything just stopped. Silence returned to the sanctum, the glow died down and the cracks stopped growing.

But the newly returned peace did not last for very long, the entire cocoon together with the glowing crystals exploded with a loud bang. When the smoke finally cleared and the pieces of the cocoon were strewn through the entire sanctum, a cough pierced through the newly found silence.

Daruk stepped through the still swirling dust cloud. His steps nearly shaking the floor of the sanctum.

He posed a terrifying sight to possible enemies, and maybe even allies. Daruk was even taller now than he had been before his death. Even though the Goron Champion had always been taller than most, even among his people.

Several large spikes jutted from his shoulders and back, smaller spikes decorated his broad forearms and legs. The spikes on his back making him appear even taller than he already was.

His long and very broad arms ended in huge hands with long claws. His skin had turned pitch black with several dark red runes stretching over his skin, the runes resembled cracks that were filled with magma. The glowing and angry red eyes, that had replaced his formerly kind and black ones, narrowed as they strayed over the console of Vah Rudania.

"Time to wake up, you beast. We have work to do!" He cried out as he stroked his beard, his voice booming through the Divine Beast.

The chains, that were wrapped around his body, rattled with every mountain-shaking step he took towards the control panel of his Divine Beast. He stopped before it and remembered that he would need a little bit of his blood to reawaken Rudania.

Daruk looked around and his eyes landed on a sharp piece that had broken away from his 'cocoon'. Using the piece of shrapnel to pierce the skin on his hand he wasted no more time and pressed the bleeding hand against the console. Immediately two other conscious minds began to mingle with his. One was Rudania, the other was…

"_Mipha?"_ He asked out loud, startled.

"_Daruk?"_ He heard her say before he _felt_ her laughter echo through his being.

"_So, you were the first to wake up, eh?"_

"_Seems like it, I had completely forgotten about this…bond."_

"_The others?"_

_"Still sleeping, but I do not think that they will take long now, how long have you been awake?"_

"_Few minutes. You?"_

"_Yes, it hasn't been very long for me either. How is Rudania?"_

"_She's fine,"_ he answered her through their link before he asked out loud, "Aren't ya?"

Rudania answered with an earth-shattering roar as it began to move, causing the entire sanctum to shake but the Goron Champion stood tall, unwavering.

"Come now, you've slept enough." He roared with laughter as the beast shook itself apparently in indignation, causing tremors to erupt deep inside the Death Mountain.

"_What did you do?"_

"_Nothing."_

"_Daruk… I felt that from Ruta."_

"_Ha, it was nothing. Well, I have to go now and do stuff, yeah. Listen Mipha, talk to ya later. Gotta go!"_

"_Argh, Daruk!"_

Daruk only laughed, before he shrank the link between them.

* * *

The monolith that stood in the center of the sanctum was made entirely out of black sand that looked as if it had been struck by lightning. It exploded into several thousand pieces, shortly after a small glowing light had disappeared through one of the various cracks that had littered the monolith's surface.

Only small pieces of the corrupted cocoon were left when the smoke finally cleared, and where the monolith had once stood, kneeled now a very tall woman with flowing hair.

Urbosa wrinkled her nose at the Malice that covered nearly every centimeter of Naboris sanctum as she rose slowly to her feet. Her red glowing eyes shone with fury as she stepped towards the console on the elevated platform in the center of the shrine, trying to avoid the deeper puddles of the corrupted essence.

Her heels clicked with every step she took and the metal pieces of her armor, the armor that had once belonged to her ancestors, clinked reassuringly in her ears, reminding her of her strength and her worth as a warrior.

Urbosa grinned, she enjoyed the freedom of feeling, after 100 years of deprivation inside of the Blight. She looked around for her weapon and shield as she walked, but they were nowhere to be found. She could worry about them later, she did not need for them for now anyway, certainly not inside of Naboris, and she probably wouldn't need them when she left her Beast either.

There was nearly nothing out there that could even be considered a match when compared to her, even when she was unarmed. And something that could prove to be truly dangerous for her wellbeing was even harder to find.

So, she wasn't all too worried, but she would need to look for a replacement, killing lesser beings with her bare fist could become tedious very quickly, considering that summoning a lightning blast probably still took a lot out of her. She would have to test her new limits later. But for now, she had something more important to do.

Coming to a halt a few meters away from the console she remembered that she would need some of her blood to awaken the Titan, seeing nothing that she could use, she sighed.

"Well then, the traditional way it is," she grumbled to herself as she took a few more steps towards the console.

She placed her hand slightly above the control panel on a small round crystal, not even flinching when a sharp spike shot out from it and pierced right through her hand, leaving a hole behind. As quick as the spike had appeared as quick did it disappear again.

Pressing her perforated hand onto the control panel of the console she shuddered as the Beast around her awoke, three separate minds bound themselves to hers. Laughing with joy when she felt their presences once again, one around her and the other two far away from the desert.

"_Urbosa!" _A masculine voice boomed through her head.

"_Urbosa." _Followed by a much softer voice.

Urbosa laughed loudly when she heard the other Champions call out her name.

"_Daruk, Mipha. Any word on Revali?" _She asked because the Rito Champion had often preferred to keep the link between himself and the others as small as possible.

"_No, he hasn't woken up yet."_

"_And he calls himself the fastest."_ Urbosa snorted shrinking the link between the pilots of the other Beasts to a bare minimum. There was a lot to be done and not enough time, she had no patience for distractions right now. But where should she start?

Vah Naboris whole frame shuddered as the ancient Titan heaved itself to its feet. The Gerudo warrior braced herself on the console so the gigantic beast would not knock her down, as the aged Titan stood up for the first time in a very long time.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight when she felt a sandstorm form around Vah Naboris as the Divine Beast began to move. Thunder roaring around the tall Titan as lightning flashed through the night's sky.

She closed her eyes and watched through Naboris as the beast slowly moved towards the north, towards Gerudo Town.

"Good idea, but do not get to close to the town, don't want to cause a stir quite yet. I can walk the rest of the way," She ordered.

Yes, this was exactly what she was going to do, her hometown could certainly give her a lot of information about the state of the world. She was curious to see who would sit on the Gerudo throne, maybe a worthy rival, one she could challenge so she could regain her spot as Chief among her people.

But she had to disguise herself first, her now light gray skin and murderous red eyes were certainly not very inconspicuous. Her darkened armor, on the other hand, would not draw a lot of eyes but she would need to change the style of her hair.

Urbosa did not know how many Gerudo knew how she looked like, but it probably wouldn't be good if she were to be recognized, as Urbosa did not know what the Calamity had in mind for them or for the races of Hyrule.

But the Malice was a curious creation, there was much to learn about what they really could do with the Malice at their disposal. It was after all a piece of their master. Maybe she could find a way to use the Malice to disguise herself.

If worse comes to worst then she would simply sneak through the town and listen in to any interesting conversations. The _Vai_ of this world had always been huge gossipers, and Urbosa doubted that a hundred years would have changed anything regarding _that_ fact.

Urbosa laughed again as she walked towards the platform that acted as an entrance and exit, there was much to be done and she could not wait to get back into the thick of it, she looked forward to what awaited her in the future.

"Ah, it's good to be back."

The Malice in her veins practically sang with anticipation as the Gerudo Champion sauntered out of the sanctum, Vah Naboris rumbling softly around her.

* * *

Revali stepped out of the broken cocoon, scoffing at the Malice around him as he swaggered towards Medoh's console. His newly black feathers were slightly ruffled but otherwise surprisingly clean considering that he had just crawled out of a Malice infused cocoon.

The wind howled around him. Vah Medoh's resting place had been on top of one of the mountains of the Hebra mountain range. The air was freezing but Revali's thick plumage saved him from experiencing the crisp air around him. Picking up a sharp piece of what was left of his cocoon he sliced carefully into his wing midstep. He had no time to waste on anything right now.

While he had activated Medoh once before he was still surprised at the rush of energy that came over him and the connections that formed, as he pressed his bloodied wing onto the console.

Nonetheless, he grinned as he felt Medoh wake up. The large bird stretched his wings and screeched to the heavens above them. Clutching at the console to avoid being thrown off his beast he braced himself as Vah Medoh took off.

Through their connection, he felt the parts of his partner that required repair but Medoh's shape was adequate so that he could still fly. Already he could feel how the Malice began to repair his Divine Beast. Some parts would not be able to be fixed by the Malice but he could worry about that later.

He enjoyed the rush of air around him, as the air thinned even further the higher the Titan flew, for any other race this would either be far too high, the air around them too thin, or it would be far too cold for them to stay up here for more than a few seconds.

Meanwhile, three separate voices echoed, mostly, softly through his mind. He sent them a quick picture of Medoh flying, along with the feeling of concentrating and a mixture of happiness and annoyance before he shrunk the link again.

As much as it made him, secretly, happy to learn that the other three were alive as well, he had work to do. And he preferred to do it alone, no senseless chattering annoying him through the link.

Revali knew that the other understood how he felt, so he wasn't too worried that they would be offended, but it wasn't like he cared about their feelings, either way, _pft_ of course not, he had no time for such nonsenses.

He waited a few more minutes till Medoh settled his speed a little bit as the ancient Beast began to fly circles high above the mountain range that stretched out beneath them. With a deep breath, he summoned a bit of wind and took off from where he stood.

Finding a rhythm, to keep up with the Titan, wasn't very hard for him and he quickly kept pace with his Beast as he flew around it to observed the damage done to Medoh.

The time passed quickly as it always did when Revali was either flying or training.

He landed on Medoh's back, not too far away from where he had started and walked back to the console, he wanted to fix as many things as he could.

And maybe later he would have time to test his new limits, he grinned in anticipation, eager to find out how much the Malice had enhanced him. The Rito Champion already felt better than he had ever felt before his death, but he wanted to find his limits so he could try to break them again, just as he had done when he had been just a young fledgling.

Revali's grin widened, he could not wait to get started, but Medoh was his top priority right now so he would do everything he could do, for now, to fix the damages that had piled up over the last century. Who knew how much free time he would have, once his new master decided to call for them.

* * *

Ganon watched his four newest creation as they either worked with their Beasts or explored a world that was so different from the one, they had been used to, 100 years could make a huge difference after all. He had been honestly surprised by how well adjusted they had been when they had crawled out of their cocoons.

There had been no random bouts of lethargy, they had shown no signs of fatigue and their bodies were completely healthy. He had expected them to have trouble, while they adjusted to the Malice flowing through their veins, but all four of them just picked right up where they had stopped, before he had arrived, completely healthy and ready to take on the world.

He had expected these creatures born from the Light to show at least a few side effects now that they had been reshaped by Darkness, but there were absolutely no signs of any problems, for the first time in a long time the Calamity was confused, he had no idea why they weren't at least a bit affected.

Not even their connection to the Beasts had suffered because of the Malice, and considering that the Titans had originally been build to combat his powers, including his Malice, he had expected a lot more resistance. But all things considered, the connection between the Champions and the Beasts seemed stronger.

He wondered for a brief moment, if the sparks that the princess had sent them, had something to do with how easily the four Champions had adjusted.

But it was time that they came to him. There was a lot to be done, and his four new servants would be perfect for the jobs he had in mind for them. Afterall the independent races of Hyrule were still well independent. And that just would not do. They would either serve him, or he would annihilate them.

And his new Champions would ensure that his will would be carried out, either way.

* * *

Mipha looked up towards the sky from where she was kneeling on top of Ruta's head when she heard the voice of the demon echo through her mind.

**_Champions the time has come!_**

**_Come to me._**

"Yes, master."

She walked towards the edge of Ruta's head and looked down, the water deep below her was deceivingly calm, taking a deep breath she tensed before jumping from her Beast, somersaulting a few times she enjoyed the rush of adrenaline that came with the action.

The wind rushed by her as she fell towards the deep waters below, she closed her eyes seconds before she breached the surface. Mipha let herself sink for a moment before she shot towards the center of Hyrule towards Ganon, towards… Zelda.

* * *

_**Champions the time has come!**_

_**Come to me.**_

Daruk tensed up from where he was leaning over Rudania's console when he heard the demon speak to him.

He had spent the last couple of hours working with his Beast, there was still some damage that would need to be repaired before Rudania would be completely intact again, and some things couldn't just be fixed by the Malice alone.

"Alright, m' on my way, boss."

The only other sound that echoed through the near-silent sanctum beside his footsteps, was the metallic clinking of his chains, but Daruk swore that he could still hear the voice of the Demon echoing through his mind. He shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of the unsettling feeling.

* * *

"Can I help you?"

Urbosa startled awake from her daydream when one of the vendors on the marketplace in Gerudo-Town approached her. She looked away from the entrance of the palace complex and regarded the young woman who had approached her with a sharp look.

"Yes, I'm-"

**_Champions the time has come!_**

**_Come to me._**

Urbosa froze for a second, luckily the Gerudo in front of her did not seem to notice her freezing, midsentence.

"I'm sorry, but yes I'm fine." She recovered quickly with a nod towards the vendor.

Not giving the other woman another chance to talk, Urbosa spun sharply on her heel and walked out of town.

"Yes, milord." She breathed a giant sigh of relief when his ominous presence finally left her completely after she had answered.

She let her disguise, that the Malice had shaped around her, fall when she had left the Town a few hundred meters behind her.

Urbosa hurried her steps, she would walk the rest of the way to the nearest stable, at the border of the desert, steal a horse and then take the quickest route towards central Hyrule. It would do her no favors to keep the Demon waiting, but she primarily wanted to see Zelda again.

* * *

**_Champions the time has come!_**

**_Come to me._**

Revali cursed as he nearly dropped a few hundred meters when the demon's voice echoed through his mind. While he managed to catch himself quickly it was still embarrassing that the loud voice had startled him so much that he had lost control over his flight.

"Yes, master," He grumbled, slightly annoyed that his flight had been so rudely interrupted.

He had busied himself, for the last several hours, with rediscovering what his body could truly do in the coldness of the Hebra mountain range. He had been very surprised when he had noticed that his senses had become much sharper, his reflexes faster, his flying speed even greater, his body stronger, and his mind clearer. The Malice had enhanced nearly everything about him.

Oh, he was going to enjoy crushing the first opponent that would stand in his way.

Changing the direction of his flight, he turned towards the place where the Castle of Hyrule used to stand. Ganon's fortress was much bigger so he could easily see the large building in the distance from where he was flying.

Revali estimated that it would not take him long to reach the giant citadel, not at his speed. Beating his wings, he sped up.

* * *

The four Champions were quietly talking to each other after they had left the throne room, discussing their new orders. It would not be easy to avoid bloodshed when they returned to their respective homes and demanded that the people would either follow them or that they would be annihilated by the Calamity.

"All I'm saying is that a show of force would be our best bet. I mean we have the Divine Beasts, let's use them, no one would be stupid enough to refuse us then." Revali argued.

"While I agree with you, some people won't be happy if we force our way into power with the use of the Divine Beasts, I think a more personal approach would be better." Mipha countered as she fiddled with her new Trident.

"Who cares if they are happy, it's either us who they will be dealing with or with Ganon, and we all know how that would end."

"You both are right. But I have to agree with Mipha, a simple show of strength through Naboris would not work with the Gerudo, I going to have to prove my worth some other way. But maybe it's different with the Rito, so your plan could work with your people. But it certainly wouldn't with the Gerudo."

"Doesn't matter anyway. We all have to do this one way or another, how we do it, is completely irrelevant."

"Daruk is right. Let's just agree to disagree on this," The Zora offered.

"Mph, fine."

"I think that's the best you're gonna' to get with him," Urbosa whispered to Mipha who only shrugged in response.

Further conversation on the topic was interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind them, causing the four Champions to quickly whirl around, hands drifting towards their weapons.

* * *

Zelda had observed the Champions from a hidden corner, while their master had held audience with them. She had been startled by the changes she had seen in every single one of them.

Mipha's grin had turned much sharper, sharper than it had ever been before, her dark eyes had glinted with a strange dark hunger, hunger… but for what?

Daruk had looked like an angry volcano god, his eyes promised pain. And his words had been sharp, with just barely restrained anger, when he had spoken. He was not at all like his former mostly calm self.

Urbosas red eyes had flickered with an electric charge even as she had shown submission in front of the projection of the Calamity, it had displayed a fury that slumbered deep inside of her, a fury that just waited to be released towards this world.

Revali had shown endless arrogance that was now spiked with a devious and cruel flair. He hadn't changed much, neither his appearance nor his personality had, but the Champion was clearly much more powerful than ever before. Where his cockiness and arrogance before had been mostly just an act, to disguise his fears and self-doubts, both the cockiness and the arrogance were now completely justified.

She had left shortly after they had received their orders. Zelda hadn't bothered to stick around to watch as they got their weapons back.

She had needed a few moments to get her bearing back after seeing them again for the first time in so, so long. She hadn't ever dared to even think that something like this could ever happen, and now they were truly back.

And now as Zelda waited, hidden in one of the corridors for the Champions to leave the throne room, she began to doubt herself. Even though she desperately tried to squash these doubts, they resurfaced every time she finally managed to push them away.

The voices in her head whispered that the Champions blamed her for their deaths, that she had been too weak and too slow, always just a little bit too slow. That she should have died in their stead, that she had been at fault, had she just unlocked her powers earlier then they would have beaten the Calamity, sparring them from a century of torture.

The voices grew so loud that she nearly stopped herself from alerting the Champions to her presence as they passed her. But she knew that she had to do this. She would have to face them sooner or later, and should this end badly then she at least wanted to get this over with.

She stepped out of the Malice amplified shadows and cleared her throat once.

She watched as they Champions whirled around, their hands drifting to their weapons and their bodies tensing up before their eyes widened with surprise as they realized who was standing in front of them.

"Little Bird?" Urbosa asked as she took a step towards the young princess, her hand falling away from where it had rested on her sword, ready to draw it.

Zelda's throat closed, there was nothing that she wanted more than to step forward and to embrace the taller woman, but her doubts stopped her, and she opted for a more… formal greeting.

"Hello, Champion Urbo-, uff!" Zelda grunted as Urbosa didn't hesitate another second to fall to her knees in front of her and to draw her into a tight hug.

She went stiff as the arms of the older woman curled around her. Still not truly believing that this was really happening, and not just another dream.

And while the Gerudo looked vastly different than when she had last seen her that fateful day, with her now skin slightly gray and her dark angry red eyes, her hugs still felt just as comforting as they had felt a century ago.

Zelda finally managed to relax completely, and she curled her arms around the other women, who only tightened her hug. Closing her eyes, she inhaled the strange mix of ozone and sand that always followed Urbosa. Zelda sniffled as a few stray tears escaped her eyes against her will.

Something of her old self, of the Zelda from before the Calamity, slipped through the cracks in her armor, cracks that had only appeared when she had laid eyes on the four Champions as they had arrived at the Citadel.

"I'm sorry. So, so sorry." She apologized with shaking shoulders her voice far weaker than it had been ever since she had crawled out of the pool of Malice three weeks ago.

Zelda silently hated herself for this show of weakness, but she couldn't help herself as she sobbed into the shoulder of the Gerudo Champion.

"Shh, you have nothing to be sorry for, little bird." Urbosa cooed softly into her ears.

"Yes, I have!" She pushed Urbosa away a little and looked each Champion in the eyes, "I have failed to stop the Calamity, you all died because I couldn't stop what was happening! I have failed you!"

She tensed up further when Daruk rested one of his large and clawed hands gently on her shoulder, but his voice soothed her nerves.

"Calm yourself, your Majesty, we all failed that day. No one, at least no one here blames you for what happened. We choose to fight and we choose to fight till our last breath. You had no say in what happened, it had never been your choice. We choose to fight for something we believed in, you've never even got the chance to choose. So please, calm yourself. It was not your fault and you did not fail us." His voice was calmer than it had been in the throne room, it sounded a lot more like t had been before the Great Calamity.

"He is right, princess. We all failed each other and the world that day, what counts now is what we do with the cards the universe has dealt us." Mipha reasoned further.

Urbosa laid one of her hands onto her other shoulder. When Zelda averted her eyes away from Mipha and Revali and looked Urbosa in the eyes the older women just winked at her before she stood back up, ruffling her hair in the process.

Zelda shrieked in outrage when the large hand of the Gerudo messed her already messy hair up even further. The Champions, sans Revali, only laughed at her reaction.

"Will you accompany us to the gates, your highness?" Daruk asked.

"I wished you could stay longer."

"After our mission, I promise. But this is important. The quicker we get the situation under control the quicker the better. A rebellion is the last thing we need right now." Urbosa promised her and Zelda swore then and there that she would hold the older woman to her promise.

"I understand…" But that didn't mean that she had to like it.

"So?" The Goron prompted her.

"What?"

"Will you accompany us to the gates, or not?" Daruk asked again.

Zelda nodded and fell into step with them, a comfortable silence settled between them. It reminded the fallen princess of the nights they had spent together in the wilderness, around a campfire, just herself, the Champions and… Link.

A pang shot through her heart when she thought about him. It was better this way, as long as the Hero slept in the Shrine of Resurrection, he could not be reborn, and so the Hero could not oppose them.

But most importantly he was safe from any harm.

Ganon had sworn to her that he would not touch the hero, as long as he stayed in the Shrine, Zelda had insisted that they seal his promise with magic. She would never admit it to anyone but she had been able to breathe easier after they had performed the magical pact. As long as Link was staying in the Shrine, he was safe from Ganon, his servants, and his dark influence.

Zelda was ripped out of her thoughts when Revali fell into step beside her, the short Rito hadn't said anything to her yet and she was a little nervous about him, what if the voices in her head had at least been right about one of the Champions.

"They were right you know, what happened that day could have never been your fault. You need to let it go, little princess." Revali did not say much, but his words and especially how he said them struck home with her.

The Rito had sounded stern and comforting at the same time, convinced with his words and trying to reassure her, it touched her deeply.

She wanted to answer but he was already speeding up again, leaving Zelda just gaping after him. The Rito caught up to the others and engaged Urbosa in a verbal sparring match that was nearly as heated as a physical one. Maybe he was right, she thought to herself, maybe she really would have to let it go.

It seemed as if the Malice hadn't changed them as much as she had secretly feared.

While the Malice had replaced most of her fears and doubts with nearly endless confidence, maybe even sometimes bordering on arrogance, and the kind of haughtiness, that she had detested seeing in the nobles of her father's court, not everything of her old self had been washed away. She wasn't sure if she should be glad about that fact or not.

"Are you coming, or not?" Revali looked over his shoulder at her, while he walked with the others.

Zelda shook her head she had not even realized that she had begun to fall behind and with another shake, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and quickened her steps again. She could think about all this later when the other had left. For now, she should cherish the time she had with them, who knew when they would see each other again.

"I'm coming."

* * *

Prince Sidon watched from the sidelines as Mipha was crowned Queen of the Zora. He refused to think of that monster as his sister, his sister had died over a hundred years ago, this, this was just a husk. A husk that had killed his father and had threatened to kill even more of the Zora should they even attempt to resister her any further.

She had told the council, the general of their armed forces and him that it would either be her that they would serve or that they would be annihilated by the Calamity. She had told them that it would be their choice.

He wanted to scoff but he knew that it probably would end badly for him if he did that now. It had not been much of a choice, the entire council had bowed down to her demands immediately, the general had resisted for a bit but he couldn't do much anyway, because the council had more power than he had.

And Sidon had watched all of this. He had no real power, by most he was considered much too young to have any real power on the political playing field.

He was a formidable fighter for sure but his father had always held him out of the political aspect of the Domain, claiming that he should enjoy his youth as long as he could.

It had never bothered the young prince but now he wished he had pressed his father for more influence. He closed his eyes as Mipha took the throne, he had no idea what he should do now.

They were completely powerless against her, as she still had the Divine Beast at her back and call.

Their Armed-Forces were now bound to her by oath, the council probably would not put up much of a fight, considering the recent events, and even if they somehow managed to overpower their new ruler then the threat of the Calamity would still hang over them, like a guillotine waiting to chop their heads off.

Sidon knelt in unison with the others, as Mipha sat down onto the throne. When he closed his eyes, he could still smell the blood of his father filling the room, his stomach rolled as he thought about it. It hadn't even been three days since she had arrived at the Domain. She had demanded that the King resigned immediately.

When King Dorephan had growled his refusal, she had simply thrown her Trident and had skewered him on his throne right then and there. The holes from her weapon were still visible on the backrest of the tall throne.

Sidon frowned as he bowed his head. He would not let this matter rest, there had to be some way to fight back. He couldn't accept that the death of his father would be left unpunished and that the murderess sat now on his father's throne.

He grew determined, he would find a way to save his people and if it killed him.

* * *

Yunobo shivered, as he watched Big Boss Bludo declare Daruk, as their new Big Boss. He felt a strange chill wash down his back and he wished for his scarf, but Bludo had advised him to keep it hidden. It would be better if Daruk did not learn that he was his grandson.

He felt the unease of the other Goron's around him, none of them knew what to make of their new Big Boss. A hero that had died a hundred years ago, now returned from the grave as a servant of the Calamity, none of them could wrap their heads around it, but they would have to deal with it.

They were Gorons after all, a sturdy and stubborn bunch, they had survived worse Big Bosses, probably.

Yunobo entered his little home and sat down onto the ground, he was chewing absentmindedly on a Rock when Bludo hastily entered.

"You have to leave." He said without much fanfare.

"W-wh-what?" Yunobo spluttered as he stood back up.

"You have to leave, right now!"

The young Goron was completely befuddled as he watched the elderly Goron stuff his things into a pack.

"Why?"

"Because when our new _Boss _learns of your identity you will be in a lot of danger." Bludo practically spat the title as he looked around for anything the young Goron would need.

"I don't understand."

"It does not matter right now, but you have to leave the mountain, go far, far away. I don't care where to. But I would advise you to avoid the other three main communities."

"I can't go. This is my home." He tried to protest.

"But you have to, Yunobo you could die if you stay here. I don't know what the Calamity and his servants are planning but I don't think it would end well if you stayed here."

"Come with me." He begged.

"What? No!" Bludo immediately refused.

"Please, I can't do this alone!" Yunobo was getting desperate now and he couldn't help it when a quiver entered his voice.

"Yes, you can and yes you will, because regardless of who Daruk is today he was a great hero hundred years ago. And that hero is your ancestor. I have faith in you."

"Why can't you come with me?"

"I'm old Yun, and I'm going to have to stay here so I can protect our Brothers. But you, you are young and you have the blood of a Hero running through your veins. I believe that it is high time, that you are going to prove it."

"You really believe that I can do it?" Nobody had ever truly believed in him.

"Yes, I do. But you have to go now."

"Ok, thank you Bludo, for everything, you are a great Brother."

"No, thank you, Yunobo."

"Goodbye, Big Boss." He turned to walk away but was stopped one last time by his mentor.

"Wait a second, Yun. You forgot your scarf. Here keep it safe, it still carries a lot of meaning among many, but be careful with who you show it to. Some do not like what the Champions once stood for."

"I got it, boss. Goodbye." He let the still soft fabric travel briefly over his skin, stuffed it into his hastily packed back and walked away.

Bludo watched as his charge walked down the mountain, the boy still had a long road to go, but the former Boss was positive that the boy could achieve anything if he set his mind to it, and maybe a dangerous journey would help him grow a spine.

"Goodbye, Yunobo. Goodbye…" He turned back towards the village.

Neither Bludo nor Yunobo knew it yet, but this was the last time they would ever see each other.

* * *

Makeela Riju watched as Naboris closed in on the town, she felt ashamed that she hadn't even attempted to fight against Urbosa. And now Gerudo Town and the Gerudo were under Urbosa's and with that Ganon's control.

She had feared something like this to happen after the Calamity had been freed a few weeks ago, and Divine Beast Vah Naboris had awoken just a few days earlier.

But there had been nothing that could have prepared her to find herself being challenged by Chief Urbosa, the woman should have been dead after all.

She had expected armies of monsters, not something like this.

And even though Riju was a very skilled fighter for her young age she knew that she would have been no match against the legendary Chief.

When the former Hero had marched right into town in the late evening and had immediately challenged the young Chief for the position, Riju had known that there would be no way that she would ever be able to win a fight against someone like that.

She had played the role of the strong Chief right up until she had entered her rooms, and had collapsed right then and there.

She had known that she had no other choice but to accept the challenge, so she had done just that, accepted it in front of the guards, her people and every other guest who had witnessed the event. But the reality of the situation hadn't hit her until she had entered her private quarters.

Buliara had found her collapsed in her rooms only a few minutes after Riju had left the public eye, but for the young Chief, it had felt like an eternity as panic and doubts plagued her.

So, she hadn't protested much when her bodyguard had stripped her of her royal attire, clothed her in mostly inconspicuous clothes before throwing a dark cloak with a hood over her.

The next few minutes had been a blur but they had somehow managed to escape the Town undetected. They had gotten lucky, extremely lucky.

Buliara had protested, but the younger Gerudo had wanted to look at her home one last time. Tears filled the Chi- former Chiefs eyes, she feared that she never would see again.

"My lady, please we do not have much time. They could discover that we have disappeared at any moment. Come on we have to leave." Buliara urged her to hurry.

Riju took one last glance at the town before she turned towards her bodyguard. Throwing her hood over her head she followed her the older woman into the night, towards the unknown.

* * *

Teba looked over at his mate who flew beside him. Saki, Tulin and he had left Rito Village in the middle of the night. When Master Revali had returned with Vah Medoh and had declared that he shall be made leader immediately, most of the Rito had bowed because of the giant Divine Beast circling over the village.

While Teba had just been a young fledgling when the Calamity had appeared, he could still remember the destructive powers of the Divine Beasts. And there were still a lot of Rito alive that had been far older than him when the Great Calamity had first appeared.

Teba had not wanted to risk either his child nor his wife, so he had taken both of them and had hightailed it out of there. Fleeing under the cover of the night gnawed at his pride as a Rito and at his honor as a warrior but his family was his priority right now.

Tulin was far too young to be endangered by the Beast over something as silly as pride and honor, and his wife was expecting their second child, while they had only known it for a couple of weeks now, he would not dare to risk her either. Had it just been him, then Teba would have stayed, probably would have even challenged the arrogant bird that called himself Revali.

Neither Saki nor he knew where the winds would carry them now, but as long as they stayed away from central Hyrule and the four corners, where the Divine Beasts were, they figured that they would be mostly safe.

After a few hours of silent flying he signaled to his wife that he wanted to land at the edge of the forest beneath them, he had seen Tulin stirring in his harness, and he figured that the young fledgling would probably hungry and disorientated as they had left when he had already been asleep.

They could rest there for a few hours before they moved on, he did not care where to, but for now, he wanted to get as far away from his former home and Revali as he could.

* * *

_Two years later…_

It was near midnight when the ghost of the former King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule stirred from the vision the goddess Hylia had shared with him.

Hylia had visited him in a vision and had told him to wake the young hero up. She had explained that Link could not return on his own, he would have to be awoken.

The goddess had explained that she had originally hoped that the princess would eventually awaken her counterpart when the time was right. But because her chosen princess had fallen, that would never happen.

Hylia had also told him before she had sent him away again, that with the fall of the prophesized Princess, the prophesized Hero was the world's last hope.

The Ghost hoped as he stood in front of the Shrine, that the young Hero would be ready for this enormous task.

Because he was a ghost, Rhoam was easily able to bypass the thick doors of the Shrine separating the outside world from the inner parts of the sanctuary.

When he passed through the last door, he stopped short at the sight of Link laying in the pool of healing. The young man was mostly naked with just a pair of shorts to protect his dignity.

But the large wound that had nearly killed the Hero during the Great Calamity had disappeared, along with every other wound and scar Link had received throughout his life.

The former king sighed as he waved his hand and the glow of the water and the water itself began to recede.

When the water was nearly empty the Hero finally stirred. The ghost held his breath as he watched the Hero's eyes flutter beneath their lids. When they finally opened, they glowed so brightly that the entire inner sanctum of the Shrine was bathed in a brilliant golden light.

* * *

Somewhere in the dark Citadel in the center of Hyrule, Princess Zelda awoke with a scream.

* * *

...

Yes, I've done it. It is really done. WOOHOO!

Took me a little more than a week and two all-nighters but I'm finally done.

This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written. And while I was writing this, I wasn't too sure if I should split this one, but I've decided against it, for reasons…

No, but really, I could have split this one into several and maybe drawn it out a bit longer but now that I'm done, I'm really happy about the end result.

I really like this story, the first multichapter one I've managed to actually finish. It feels great. Really, really great.

I've written this one in a way that I'm going to be able to come back to this one, there are a lot of open endings in this chapter after all.

But for now, it is done. I'm not going to be writing for this in the near future.

There are other projects that I want to try out for now, but who knows maybe in the not so distant future I will come back to this one and expand this AU a bit more.

I have to thank all of you who have either reviewed it, favored this story, or followed it, you are GREAT, and your support has helped me immensely, so thank you.

So, thank you again for reading and I hope that you liked it, maybe even post a constructive review.

Thank you very much, this is ScouterFight and I'm out :D.

By the way I've changed the rating from "M" to "T" and the genres from Tragedy/Angst to Tragedy/Hurt/Comfort. I had a feeling that the properties didn't really fit, so I've changed them.


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